Laughter of a Newly Wedded Couple
by Creativity's Loyal Servant
Summary: "Hey, Ayano. I realised something today. We're pretty much grown-ups now and... it's been a long time since we've known each other. So... I'd like to give you this." With that, Shintaro trudged forward; both hands clutched at the vibrant velveteen roses that were wrapped neatly in paper and plastic. Alternate ending to Silk Roses; a much happier ending. [Credits to Rochi for idea!]


Laughter of a Newly Wedded Couple

"_I'm finally a bride…"_

"But…" Ayano frowned slightly before fidgeting with one of the long locks of hair. "Where did I put my bouquet?"

The lean and lanky girl of twenty one years allowed a small sigh to escape her lips, signaling her slight exasperation on her forgetfulness. Her thumb and index finger played with one of the long hazel tresses that rested gently on her creamy shoulder; chocolate eyes glancing left and right for any signs of her much needed bouquet. Her other gloved hand was constantly adjusting her pure white wedding dress in a fit of anxiety. The translucent veil was thrown to the back of her head and pinned with her late mother's crimson clips upon the top of her head, swaying gracefully with each movement made.

"Hnngh… why must you be so forgetful, Ayano?" she whined quietly to herself, puffing her cheeks out as she screwed her eyes shut. "Come on! Remember where you put them! Remember, remember!"

"Ah… Ayano."

Almost immediately at the sound of the familiar voice, her eyes snapped open as she spun around to face the owner of the voice. Her reddish-brown eyes widened in surprise as her fingers quickly ceased its previous actions on her hair.

"S-Shintaro?!" she gasped out, shock filling her chestnut orbs. "W-What are you-"

"Hey, Ayano." the twenty four year old boy interrupted her without any hesitation as he stepped forward; one hand being fed through his trimmed jet black hair and the other held firm behind his back. "Today, I realised something. We're both pretty much grown-ups now and it's been a long time since we've known each other. So…"

He brought the item he held behind his back to his chest and gripped it firm in front of him.

"… I'd like to give you this."

With that, Shintaro trudged forward; both hands clutched at the vibrant velveteen roses that were wrapped neatly in paper and plastic.

"Geez, Shintaro…" Ayano gave a small grin before swiftly brushing the right side of her bangs up and extending her gloved hand to take the bouquet. "I was looking for that, you know-"

But just before the tips of her fingers could touch the luscious crimson rose petals in the neatly wrapped plastic, Shintaro let out a small snicker; pulling away the silk roses back firmly to his chest.

"But first…" the man of twenty four years had an ear-to-ear grin plastered onto his smug face. "You'll have to catch me!"

And with that being said, the elder Kisaragi had sprinted off into the depths of the greenery as fast as his long spindly legs could take him; long before Ayano could even open her mouth to protest about the consequences should his sister find out he wrecked his outfit.

"Shintaro! Hey, wait!" she yelled at him, stumbling for a moment in her footing due to her dainty little stilettos that were at least three inches before breaking into a decent run, raising the hem of her somewhat translucent wedding dress as she dashed after him.

The only reply back to her was the laughter of a quickly fading clothed back of a twenty four year old man.

And almost instantly as the figure had faded along with the hearty laughter, a smile had lit her petite face before a tinkle of a giggle escaped through her upturned lips.

It felt like they were back in high school again.

Only, she would be the one running away from Shintaro laughing, after messing with him in some sort of way involving her bright red scarf.

Ah, their younger days of middle school where Shintaro was far from being Ayano's friend; forget being her best friend. She always tried to catch the jet black haired boy's attention, but to no avail. His eyes were only locked upon the textbook in front of him and he was always had a hand palmed to his face plastered with a bored expression. It was only when it came to the day they got their English tests back did she manage to have a small interaction with him.

No, that wasn't it.

It was when she finally got the confidence to walk up to him with her freshly made paper crane in hand (from her bad test result, of course; paper cranes were the only thing that she could do well.) with a wide smile on her face, did she finally get a proper answer for him.

"_You shouldn't be so sulky, you know." she announced boldly as she stepped up to his desk with a warm beam on her face as the fifteen year old boy turned to look at her confused. "The world's far more fun what we see it as! It's kinda boring if it was like that…" Tateyama faltered, before glancing away from the boy with a nervous watery grin._

_He stared at her silently._

"_Uh… I…" the fourteen year old fumbled with her words before straightening herself and standing at stiff attention. "I-I'm Ayano T-Tateyama! It's a p-pleasure to meet you!" she bowed before him, her mind being jumbled up because __**oh my God, I screwed up in my introduction, this was supposed to be a friendly conversation to get to know him, I messed up, I MESSED UP**__-_

"_Shintaro Kisaragi."_

"_E-Eh?" she snapped out of her train of thought before staring at him. "W-Wha-?"_

"_My name. It's… Shintaro Kisaragi." he muttered, shifting his position ever so slightly to face the chocolate haired girl in front of him._

_She blinked._

"… _It's… nice to meet you too." he added, before looking away; slightly unnerved by her stare._

_A tiny smile graced her lips._

"_Y-Yeah."_

"Hey! Over here, so my little sister can't find us!"

Ayano shook herself from her reminiscing of her high school days before noticing a suited figure waving frantically at her; gesturing at his soon-to-be wife to get behind the tree quickly. With a cheeky grin spreading across her face and a hasty glance behind her, she scuttled off towards the big sakura tree to meet Shintaro, who had swiftly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in as she yelped.

"H-Hey! Don't do that!" the twenty one year old girl protested, squirming her arm out of his tight grasp before huffing at him, hands at her hips. "Momo's going to kill us if we ruin these outfits she had customed tailored for us!"

"Well, why do you think we're hiding behind this cherry blossom tree in the first place?" he deadpanned, leaning against the hard wood of the tree with a small thump.

"... touché."

Silence.

They stared into each other's eyes blankly.

"..."

"..."

And almost as soon as the silence had started, a roar of laughter had erupted from the two of them; Ayano squeezing her stomach that was stitching up from the waves of giggles that washed over her and Shintaro sliding down the trunk of the tree as he laughed his heart out.

The giggle fest lasted for at least a minute, before it finally died down into the occasional chuckle and snicker as they huddled together; back-to-back.

"Hey… Ayano?" Kisaragi voiced out hesitantly, his hand slowly tugging her down to the lush grass.

"Yeah?" she replied; a slight inflection in her tone to make it questioning as she playfully tried to struggle out of her betroth's grasp.

"Do you…" he faltered, to which he let out a long exhale and fed his free hand through his hair. "Do you still remember our days in middle and high school?"

A pause.

"Y-Yeah, of course!" Ayano stuttered out briefly, sliding down next to him with a bump and a small wince before wrapping her hands daintily around her knees. "You were always one to be the top in class _and_ the one who managed to ace all the tests with a perfect score." she murmured gently as she unconsciously played with the messy locks of hair strewn about.

"... I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

Ayano ceased her movements for a moment before gently taking Shintaro's face into her fingertips and bringing him towards her.

"What do you mean, 'I'm sorry'? You didn't do anything wrong unless… you want to break off this…" Ayano trailed off, biting her lips anxiously her hands fell upon her lap to fidget with the hem of her dress.

"What?!" Shintaro said aloud in shock before jumping to a stiffer position in his crossed legs posture. "No, I don't mean that at all!"

"Oh." the twenty one year old stopped short before letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. "Sorry; I guess my mind likes to jump to the worst case scenarios…" she laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

Shintaro simply let out a small chuckle before a serious yet soft expression slipped onto his countenance.

"What I meant was… back in high school. That's what I'm sorry for." he mumbled, staring anywhere except at Ayano's face.

Silence.

"Shintaro…" Ayano slowly snaked both her hands onto Shintaro's idle hand on his lap, intertwining her fingers into his very gingerly. "What's in the past is over. And it really doesn't matter what you did to me back then…" she hummed softly, lightly picking at her soon-to-be husband's fingers. "It was my decision to decide to be your friend, so it definitely wasn't your choice to be my friend immediately. It wasn't your fault."

Another moment of stillness.

"Thank you. For being my… best friend." he added after a second, scratching the nape of his neck in a mix of relief and nervousness.

Ayano just giggled.

"You're very welcome."

She leaned in and dropped a small kiss on her fiancé's nose, who had rapidly turned into a bright shade of red before looking away and muttering something about how dumb she still was sometimes.

The response he got was a playful poke in the side, causing a poking fight between the two after Shintaro had let out the most girliest yelp she had ever heard.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you two are doing?!"

The two of them looked up; Shintaro looking at her sister upside down as he was being pinned down by Ayano, who froze in her movement to attack him from both sides.

Momo didn't seemed to look very amused at their antics.

"Stupid onii-chan! I told you not to ruin your suit! Didn't I tell you how expensive it was?!" Momo yelled, stomping her foot. "And you!" she quickly pointed at Ayano, who was attempting to slowly back out off this mess. "I thought you would have known better and made sure that onii-chan wouldn't do anything stupid! What were you both thinking?!"

With that, Ayano and Shintaro looked at each other; a sense of déjà vu taking over them.

And with a snicker, they burst out laughing before Ayano hastily pulled up Shintaro and ran away from Momo, who stared at them in shock; jaw agaped as they ran off.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! _Hey_!" Momo screeched before sprinting after them.

The only reply back to her was the laughter of a quickly fading clothed back and a wedding dress trailing behind of both a twenty four year old man and a twenty one year old woman. 


End file.
